Production facilities, commonly referred to as plants, continue to increase in complexity due to automation and interconnections between sections of the plant and individual machines within the plant, among other reasons. Furthermore, the hardware and software that directs the machines, and the machines themselves, will often be adjusted to meet changing production demands. Moreover, plant machinery, hardware and software are typically from different suppliers and must be seamlessly integrated for peak plant performance. Coping with this increasing complexity is difficult for corrective maintenance and trouble-shooting staff employees of the plant or maintenance staff employees of suppliers.
US PAP 2002/0035447 A1 discloses a classical system for remote diagnosis as application service.
US PAP 2002/0007237 A1 discloses another conventional method and apparatus to capture diagnostic symptoms and resolution for repair.
US PAP 2001/0037363 A1 discloses another method for providing consulting services to resolve a problem in a centralized web-based environment.